[134] The title of Tzar, says Karamsin, was used in Russia as early as the reign of Ysiaslaf II. and Dmétri Donskoi (1363-1389). This word is not an abridgment of the Latin Cæsar, as some learned men have supposed. It is an ancient Eastern name, which became known to the Russians through the Slavonic translation of the Bible, and was given by them first to the Emperor of the East and then to the khans of the Tatars. It signifies in Persian “a throne,” “the supreme authority,” and is observed in the names of the kings of Assyria and Babylonia, as in Phalassar, Nabonassar. John III. (1462-1472), was the first grand prince who took the title of Tzar in writing to foreign powers, and in his public acts he gave to his empire the name of “White Russia,” that is to say, great or ancient, according to the acceptation of this word in Oriental languages.—Karamsin, vi. 438.

In one of the chronicles of Novgorod it is said that Vladimir assumed the title of Tzar, 978. “Sic unus (Vladimir) serum Russiæ politus, auxit se titulo Tzaris et magni ducis atque autocratoris Russorum, sedemque ducatus Novogordiensis Kioviam transtulit.”—M.S. quoted in the notes to French translation of Nestor.

[135] Nestor.

[136] Clarke says that he obtained some copper coins of Vladimir in the Chersonese with a V upon them, probably marking the era of his baptism.

[137] Nestor, French translation, viii. 133.

[138] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 147. M. F. Adelung, die Korsüncher Thüren in der Cathedral Kirche zur heilg. Sophia in Novgorod. Berlin, 1823.

[139] Karamsin, Histoire de Russie, vol. v. p. 16.

[140] Bronovius, Desc. Tartariæ, pp. 258-261.

[141] A plan of these is given by Clarke in a vignette.

[142] B. iv.

[143] St. George is the principal patron saint of Russia, and the ancient arms of Moskow, when it was an independent principality, were this saint mounted on a white horse on a red field. When Moscow became the capital of the Grand Princes of Russia they adopted these arms. The vanquished dragon was added in 1380, after the victory of Koulikof, gained by Dmétri Donskoi over the Tatars. Ivan IV. in adopting in 1580 the double-headed eagle of the Greeks did not on that account renounce the horseman and the dragon, and the Russian eagle is charged in the heart with the scutcheon of Koulikof.

The ancient sovereigns of Russia, after embracing Christianity, took for their arms three circles in a triangle. In one of the circles was an inscription about the Trinity, in another the name of the prince to whom the letter was addressed, and in the third the titles of the Grand Prince.—Notes to French translation of Nestor, p. 71; Strahlemberg, Description de l’Empire Russe, vol. i. p. 240. Amst. 1757.

[144] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 194.

[145] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 201.

[146] See St. Simon, Mémoires de l’Arménie.

[147] For all this account of the crypts see Dubois, vol. vi. p. 314-319.

[148] Toira in Assyrian means a mountain, a chain of mountains; Tyrou in Chaldean; Tourou in Syrian. With the Turk races Tau means a mountain, a round or high building, a rampart; and or a façade. In Greek oros means a mountain. See Dubois, vol. vi. p. 12.

[149] The remainder of this chapter is abstracted from Hommaire de Hell, vol. ii. ch. 19.

[150] See Dubois, vol. vi. p. 222.

[151] The history of the Goths in the Crimea, an obscure but interesting subject, has been investigated in a recent German work, which I have not seen.

[152] Clarke’s Travels, vol. i. App. 3.

[153] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 110. A great part of the following account of Balaclava is translated from this author.

[154] K. Ritter, die Vorhalle Europäischer Völkergeschichten vor Herodotus, um den Kaucasus und an den Gestaden des Pontus. Berlin, 1820, p. 8. A very curious and interesting work, although considered too speculative by some scholars.

[155] Pallas, vol. ii. p. 131.

[156] Ibid., vol. ii. p. 130; see also Strabo.

[157] MS. Travels of Nicholas Barti, of Lucca, into Tatary, Circassia, and Mingrelia, from 1632-1639.

[158] Clarke’s Travels, vol. i. p. 507.

[159] Pallas, vol. ii. p. 132-3.

[160] Pallas, vol. ii. p. 89-99.

[161] This account of the valley of Baidar and the Tatars and their dwellings is borrowed from Clarke, vol. ii. p. 514-520. The manners of the Tatars are the same as those of other nations of Western Asia; and this account has been inserted, because, although written a long time ago, it is still believed to give a faithful picture of them.

[162] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 92.

[163] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 93.

[164] P. de Koeppen, Krimskii Sbornik, p. 23, quoted in Dubois.

[165] As, for instance, Mangoup, Biassala, Katchikalene, Mangouche, and Lec.

[166] Cape Saritch is the name of the sailors for Mount Aia.

[167] General Potier was one of, I think, eight engineer officers lent by Napoleon after the peace of Tilsit, to form the Russian engineers on the French model, and to establish an École Polytechnique.

[168] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 97.

[169] The village of Kutchuk Koi, four versts from Kíkineis, was buried in February, 1786. The following is the account of this catastrophe from Professor Pallas’s work, written shortly after the event:—“On the 10th of February, 1786, the surface of the earth about the deep glens before mentioned, and in another still further to the eastward, began to burst, and to exhibit rocks or clefts; so that, on the same day, the brook which had hitherto turned two small mills, constructed by the native Tatars, entirely disappeared. Two days afterwards, the soil having become entirely disengaged, and the frightened inhabitants of the adjacent village having removed their cattle, carried off their effects, and abandoned their habitations, the whole tract between the hollows above described, from the lofty bank of rocks by the sea-shore, fell in about midnight with a dreadful noise; and this sinking continued till the 28th of February, so as to occasion a terrific abyss from ten to twenty fathoms deep, in which only a large parallel ridge of hard rock and two smaller crests remained projecting at the bottom. The ground thus fallen extends about a mile and a half in length, and six hundred yards in breadth. In proportion as one part of the steep declivity was detached from the rock, the whole mass pressed downwards, and the strand was removed further into the sea to a distance of from one hundred to two hundred yards.”—Pallas’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 142.

[170] Pallas’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 150. It is a pity Professor Pallas has given no specimen of the language of these people. By the original inhabitants of the Crimea, I suppose he means the Tatar population, who arrived in the Crimea with Batou Khan.

[171] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 85.

[172] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 82.

[173] It was measured trigonometrically by Mr. Chatillon, and found to be 3798 pieds de roi.—Dubois, vol. vi. p. 77.

[174] Castelnau, Hist. de la Nouvelle Russie, quoted by Dubois, vol. vi. p. 81.

[175] The Russian loss at Borodino in killed and wounded was—generals, 30; officers, 1,600; men, 42,000.—MS. Memoir.

The French loss was—generals, 40; officers, 1,800; men, 52,000, as shown by the papers of Marshal Berthier, subsequently taken at Wilna.

[176] “Namesnik” in Russian—a very high office, seldom conferred. The holder of it corresponds directly with the Emperor, and not through the Ministry.

[177] The army of the Caucasus in 1847 was about 170,000 men.

[178] The history of these three ladies is admirably told by the graceful and vigorous pen of Madame de Hell, in the chapter entitled ‘Trois femmes célèbres.’ It is worth reading in the original French, as all the charm of the writing is lost in the published English translation.

[179] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 73.

[180] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 59.

[181] The E. India Company have a similar establishment on the Neilgherry Mountains in the South of India.

[182] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 55.

[183] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 24.

[184] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 26.

[185] The early writers on the coast of the Crimea are Herodotus, B.C. 469; Scymnus of Chio, B.C. 100; Strabo, A.D. 29; Arrian, A.D. 110; Ptolemy, A.D. 211; Procopius, A.D. 550. The anonymous Periplus translates into prose the verses of Scymnus.

[186] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 9.

[187] Scymnus of Chio, B.C. 100. See Hudson, Geo. Min.

[188] Dubois, vol. vi. p. 7.

[189] Dubois, vol. v. p. 450.

[190] Dubois, vol. v. p. 451.

[191] Ai for “agio,” holy, in Greek; and “thodor,” corruption of “Theodoro.” Thus, “Ai Petri” for St. Peter.

[192] Dubois, vol. v. p. 455.

[193] Dubois, vol. v. p. 446.

[194] Dubois, vol. v. p. 429.

[195] See H. de Hell, vol. ii. p. 484.

[196] Dubois, vol. v. p. 350-360.

[197] Maharab is a kind of pulpit, generally in stone-work, on which the “imam” or “mollah” stands in every mosque, and it is always turned in the direction of Mecca: thus in Africa it would look towards the east, in India towards the west, and in the Crimea nearly due south.

[198] See Dubois, vol. v. p. 355-358.

[199] The following account of the vines of the Crimea and the prices of land is translated from Dubois, vol. v. p. 330-350.

[200] Bronovius, Desc. Tartariæ.

[201] ‘Recueil de quelques antiquités trouvées sur les bords de la Mer Noire, par L. D. Waxel,’ No. 4, Clarke, Voyage, p. 117. It is now in the Museum of Nikolaief.

[202] Mount Simeonkaia and Mount Kisilkaia.

[203] Dubois, vol. v. p. 413.

[204] Aian is a contraction for Agio Joannes, or St. John. Dubois, vol. v. p. 417.

[205] Dubois, vol. v. p. 418.

[206] Dubois, vol. v. p. 407.

[207] Dubois, vol. v. p. 411.

[208] Ibid., vol. v. p. 412.

[209] Dubois, vol. v. p. 412.

[210] Id. p. 375.

[211] Pallas, vol. ii. p. 271, 387; Peyssonel, Commerce de la Mer Noire, vol. ii. p. 269; Dubois, vol. i. p. 271.

[212] Dubois, vol. v. p. 280.

[213] From this point the greater part of the rest of this chapter is translated from H. de Hell’s work. Vol. ii. ch. 18.

[214] Dubois, vol. v. p. 284.

[215] See Dubois, vol. v. p. 293.

[216] Dubois, vol. v. p. 287.

[217] A celebrated Armenian city in the Pashalic of Kars.

[218] Dubois, vol. v. p. 296.

[219] One ancient Armenian church exists at Zvainiets, near the Dneistr, in Podolia; the interior walls are hewn stone, covered with carving of very fine execution. This little church dates from the end of the 15th century. At Jaslovitz in Gallicia, the seat of the famous Polish family of Konietzpolski, is the residence of the Armenian bishop of that place. The indignities heaped upon them afterwards obliged the Armenians to quit that town, and they retired to Leopol or Lemberg, whose riches and importance date from that time. Dubois, vol. v. p. 297, note.

[220] He gives a picture of it in his work.

[221] Clarke’s Travels, vol. i. p. 446.

[222] The Russians took this town in 1771, and restored it at the peace of Kainardji, in 1774. Chahin Geray, the reigning Khan, then transferred here the seat of government, till he was forced to yield up his country to Catherine in 1784; he then passed into Russia, and at last was strangled at Rhodes in 1787. He lived like an European, had a European cook, ate all kinds of meat, and his servants wore a livery. He drove in his carriage instead of riding, and hid his beard under a black silk cravat—a daring thing for a Mussulman at that epoch. He had a corps of 200 Cossacks, dressed in a red and black uniform, under the command of an English officer.—See ‘Essai Hist. sur la Mer Noire,’ by a very intelligent French merchant of Kherson. Paris, 1805.

[223] See Clarke, vol. i. p. 451, note, for authorities in support of this opinion.

[224] Dubois, vol. v. p. 218.

[225] Dubois, vol. v. p. 242.

[226] Hommaire de Hell, Vol. ii. p. 505.

[227] Dubois, vol. v. p. 104.

[228] Id. p. 108.

[229] Pallas. Voyages dans les Gouvernements Méridionaux, vol. ii. p. 298.

[230] The quarantine here is probably only a political measure to keep away foreigners.

[231] The last “t” is pronounced like a “tz,” and the word as if written “Constitutzia.”

[232] Dubois, Voyage, vol. v. p. 113-117.

[233] The remainder of this chapter is abstracted from Dubois’ detailed account, vol. v. p. 113-239.

[234] Smith’s Geog. Dict., Art. ‘Bosphorus.’

[235] Reskóuporis I., Mithridates III. and his wife Ghepaipyris, and T. J. Reskóuporis.

[236] Dubois, vol. v. p. 137.

[237] Dubois, vol. v. p. 151-184.

[238] See Genesis, chap. 24.

[239] See Sir W. Hamilton’s collection of Etruscan Vases, Naples, about 1766.

[240] A roof in which the stores go on projecting in layers till they nearly meet at the top.

[241] The peacock is supposed to have been brought from India by the companions of Alexander the Great, and in the wild state is not known west of India.

[242] I found, curious to say, a somewhat similar tradition prevailing near Chingleput, in Southern India. There the entrance was said to be guarded by two gigantic wasps.

[243] Dubois, vol. v. p. 89.

[244] Dubois, vol. v. p. 194-288.

[245] Electrum is a mixture of gold and silver.

[246] For bows and arrows together, called oistiodoche.

[247] Boiled mutton is a common dish in Persia. An immense cauldron of it is made about midday in the villages in some parts of Persia, and persons sending may buy a portion. I have sometimes bought some in travelling, but found it indigestible on account of the fat sheep’s tails boiled up with it.

[248] The toura is an animal in the Caucasus like a wild bull, with enormous horns, and a very thick skull, as it throws itself down precipices on its head. It is the favourite game of the Mingrelian and Ossete princes.

[249] Strabo, lib. xi. p. 486.

[250] Dubois, vol. v. p. 223.

[251] This medal is among those published by Sestini.—Musée Chaudoir, tab. i., figs. 5 and 6. Consult Dubois, vol. v. p. 225.

[252] Hagemeister, Com., see p. 147.

[253] See Scymnus of Chio, B.C. 100.

[254] Meleti and Sanson, geographers of the 17th century, say that Caffa was built of material from Tousla, which is now the name of a village near Opouk, and, according to Chardin, means salt-works. Krimskii Sbornik, p. 106; Carte du Voyage de Chardin, en 1672; Dubois, vol. v. p. 263.

[255] Nearly the whole of this chapter is taken from the Pilot of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof, by the late M. Taitbout de Marigny, who for many years employed his time in exploring these seas in his yacht. A 3rd edition of his little work was printed in English with Maps, at Constantinople, 1850.

[256] Tonka means “narrow.”

[257] Kamish means “a reed” in Russian.

[258] Bielo means “white” in Russian, and serái “a palace” in Tatar.

[259] Obriv means “a cliff” in Russian.

[260] Dolgoi means “long” in Russian.

[261] Staroi means old in Russia.

[262] It is sometimes called “Mertvoi Donetse.” Mertvoi means “dead” in Russian.

[263] All the coals used are Russian coals, which come down the river.

[264] No masts are, however, shipped from Taganrok.

[265] Dictionnaire Géograph. Historique de l’Empire Russe. 1823. Art. Taganrok.

[266] Cape Bielo-Serái is called Cape Bilestav by the Greeks and Italians.

[267] See Blue Book, p. 73. The exact numbers are, 1853, Imports, S. R. 48,110; Exports, S. R. 6,243,774.

[268] See Appendix, on the country between Yénitchi and Perecop.

[269] Rostof is not mentioned as one of the principal towns of Russia in the Russian Government Tables of Population, &c., translated and published this year by the Board of Trade (Statistical Tables relating to Foreign Countries, Part I., 1855); I believe, however, that I am correct in the importance which I attribute to it.

[270] See Blue Book, Stat. Tables of Foreign Countries, 1855, Part I., p. 70-72.

[271] Blue Book, p. 29.

[272] Id. id.

[273]

[274] There is a small portion grown in the Danubian Principalities and in Italy, but of an inferior quality.

[275] This is also the case with Indian linseed.

[276] That is when manufactured, but not when it is sold to the public, after having passed through the excise. The excise is farmed in Russia according to governments, and is let by auction for short terms of years. Mr. Tegoborski states, that last autumn (1854) the farms were relet, and that there was no diminution in the biddings, on account of the war. It has been for some time in contemplation to do away with the farming of the excise, and to introduce a system somewhat similar to our own.

[277] This word has the same meaning in Russian, as “quarter” in English, Tchetwert being derived from Tchetíri, four.

[278] Dr. Clarke makes also the following observations on the name of this river, which, being of considerable size, runs through the Government of Kharkof, and meets the Don at some distance above Tcherkask, and from which the Greeks, he thinks, took the name of Tanais, which they applied to the Don. He says, “I must request the reader to suppose himself entering the mouth of the Don, and proceeding up the river to the distance of about 99 miles, above its embouchures, and rather more than 46 above the town of Tcherkask. He would here find the Danaetz falling into the Don, by two mouths, separated from each other by a distance of 10 or 12 miles. But the people here have, from time immemorial, entertained a notion that it leaves the Don again before it reaches the sea, and, taking a north-westerly direction, falls into the Palus Mæotis, to the north of all the other mouths of the Don, of which it is, in fact, one. This northernmost mouth of the Don, on account of the river whose waters its channel is supposed peculiarly to contain, is called Danaetz, and to express either its sluggish current, or its exit into the sea, Dead Danaetz. The Greeks, steering from the Crimea towards the mouth of the Don, and, as their custom was, keeping close to the shore, entered first this northernmost mouth of the river. It bore then, as it does now, the name of Danaetz, Idanaetz, or Tanaetz, whence the word Tanais would be easily derived.”—Clarke, i. 257. It must be remarked, however, that a gentleman from Taganrok informs me that the word is distinctly pronounced Donetz, as the Germans write it.

[279] The importation of Russian woollens into China must be very large to supply the extensive demand which exists for them in the north and centre of China. The thick heavy kinds, which the Chinese call “hala,” after the Russian name for wrappers or outside coverings, which are often made from cloths of this description, are chiefly in request, and are much used for cloaks and travelling dresses: those of red and green hues are much esteemed, on account of the superior depth and brightness of the Russian colours. These cloths are from 20 to 30 yards long, and from 62 to 64 inches broad. Belgian and Saxon cloths are also received through Russia. Small parcels of Russian woollens are brought to Canton, where they enter into competition with English goods, to the disadvantage of the latter. Russian blue cloth may be bought at 2½ dollars per yard, and in the interior it is a dollar cheaper: other kinds, except scarlet, are cheaper. The Chinese could not sell at these prices, unless they obtained them at rates even lower than the cost of production; and there is little doubt that the Russians part with them at a loss, but are eventually remunerated by the high profits they are able to realise on teas. Kiachta and Mae-mae-Chin are the well known towns on the Russian and Chinese borders respectively, where the trade between the two countries is carried on. It is purely a barter trade; no money is allowed by the Chinese to pass. The measure of value is bricks of tea, averaging about 3 lbs. in weight; and the chief staple of exchange on the side of the Russians is cloth. Tea is the principal article given by the Chinese, of which it is calculated that 18,000,000 lbs., of the value of 5,300,000 dollars, are taken by the Russians. The Russians have of late begun to ship teas from the eastern part of China, and taking in the tea sent through Europe, they receive about 2,000,000 lbs. by water; so that their total consumption may be put at about 20 millions of lbs., and is rapidly increasing. It is a disputed point whether the Russian caravan tea is the same kind as that we drink, or whether its undoubtedly superior quality arises from the land journey. Mr. Parkes thinks that the tea is the same, but Mr. Hill was told at Kiachta that it came from different provinces. (Hill’s ‘Siberia,’ vol. i. 1854.) Kiachta is 4000 miles from Moscow, and 1000 from Pekin. The cost of transport of tea from Kiachta to Moscow is computed at 40l. a ton, or 4¼d. per lb.; Chinese transport is 3¼d. per lb.; total cost of transport per lb., 7½d.; cost of water transport from China to Russia, 2½d. Price of best tea in Russia, 2l. 2s. per lb., which appears enormous to us in England.—(See Parkes’ Rep., Journal of R. Geog. Soc., vol. xxiv. p. 306.) The Russian estimate of the value of the cloth exported to China is about 400,000l., and total exports to China, 850,177l.—See Blue Book, p. 57.